04 Mar Biological Diversity Act, 2002 – impact and challenges
Biological Diversity Act, 2002 – impact and challenges – Today Current Affairs
The biodiversity management committees (BMCs) have been constituted in local bodies across the length and breadth of the country under the provisions of the national Biological Diversity Act, 20021 and relevant state rules enacted under it. The act gives effect to India’s commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1992 to which it is a party, and the act’s objectives mirror the three goals of the CBD, namely the conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources and associated knowledge.
While primarily responsible for the preparation of peoples’ biodiversity registers (PBRs) containing comprehensive knowledge on the availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medicinal, or any other use or associated traditional knowledge, the BMCs also have important functions in determining access and benefit-sharing (ABS), including the power to levy collection fees on the access of biological resources within its jurisdiction. BMCs are, thus, key to the realisation of the objectives of the Nagoya Protocol (2010), negotiated within the CBD, enjoining parties to take measures to ensure that benefits from the utilisation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge accrue to indigenous and local communities on mutually agreed terms.
With many BMCs remaining merely on paper, challenges in ensuring effective functioning of the BMCs have been reported in almost all states, attributed primarily to the lack of funding and capabilities and the inability to generate own funds (Kohli and Bhutani 2014; Tandon 2017). While the NBA tried to provide a set of minimum guiding principles for the operationalisation of the BMCs in 2014, states adopted different strategies to circumvent the challenges. For instance, Kerala—which had become the first state in the country to constitute BMCs in all its local bodies—ensured that the respective BMCs were chaired by the chairperson of the local body, with the secretary of the latter being the BMC’s ex officio member secretary, to ensure local ownership of the BMCs
MP’s Pioneering Initiatives : The Hindu Analysis
Madhya Pradesh (MP) has been a leader in biodiversity governance since the late 1990s, much before it became a part of the statutory obligations mandated by the 2002 act. Some of the foundational initiatives taken up far ahead of the times by MP—a precursor to the PBRs—were (i) the constitution of the “Madhya Pradesh Biodiversity Board” in 1999, (ii) the creation of a separate department of biodiversity and biotechnology in 2001, (iii) the preparation of the biodiversity strategy and action plan through a participatory process in 2002, and (iv) a first-of-its-kind effort in Seoni to incorporate biodiversity concerns in district developmental planning as well as preparation of jal–jangal–jameen registers at the gram panchayat level . It has also been commended for its efforts to make the documentation exercise participatory, involving marches or jathas to sensitise local people organised by the local NGOs with support from the state forest department (Gadgil 2006). The state also took the lead by promptly notifying the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Rules in 2004, almost co-terminus with the notification of the national Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 to give effect to the 2002 act, and the constitution of the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (MPSBB) under the aforesaid state rules in 2005.
Challenges in the BMCs : The Hindu Analysis
Despite the success stories, MP continues to face challenges in keeping the BMCs active and operational. This comes out strongly in the findings of the study conducted by the author based on field-level insights from 23 BMCs across five eco-regions and seven districts of MP, both old, well-established BMCs as well as relatively new BMCs, and JFMC-cum-BMCs.
The state has a few BMCs that are more than a decade old, such as the Pithorabad BMC in Satna district, the Langadiya Dhansura Bamsoli, Piprai, and Jabrol BMCs in Morena, which have prepared their PBRs long back with the help of local NGOs and master trainers of the MPSBB. Interactions with BMC members indicated considerable awareness about their roles and responsibilities and deep pride in the rewards and recognition received for their work on biodiversity conservation.
Despite their achievements, these BMCs face many challenges such as the lack of sustained funds for their work, the inability to generate funds of their own by collecting access fees, and the lack of requisite infrastructure such as dedicated office space.
Today Current Affairs
A Multipronged Approach for the Future : The Hindu Analysis
MP has achieved full compliance with the NGT directive with the constitution of BMCs and preparation of PBRs in all its local bodies along with the constitution of JFMC-cum-BMCs. However, as the long experience of biodiversity governance in the state indicates, several challenges exist in sustaining the BMCs over time. This is compounded by the sheer geographical size and a huge number of local bodies in the state, which imposes unprecedented challenges in constitution, reconstitution, and building capacities faced nowhere else in the country.
It is indeed laudable that MP (and particularly the MPSBB) has shown unflagging commitment towards empowering the BMCs in the state and has been proactive in identifying the challenges and taking steps to address the same. Demonstrating policy responsiveness, the state has gone about amending the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Rules in 2019 to reconstitute the JFMCs as JFMC-cum-BMCs, a step much in line with the operationalisation guidelines of the NBA with the expectation that the JFMCs—which have relatively robust functioning in the state under the mentorship of the forest department and performing related functions at the ground level—could be harnessed to serve as the BMCs. Considering the centrality of the funds for sustaining the work of the BMCs over time, the MPSBB has tried to build up a robust ABS regime through additional regulatory measures adopted in the exercise of powers conferred by the rules.
Bio-finance has also assumed centre stage in the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (MPSBS and AP) for 2018–30 brought out in 2020. The priority strategies to be adopted for strengthening bio-finance in the state include strengthening the ABS mechanism, putting in place separate biodiversity budget heads in all relevant sectors, ensuring convergence with relevant government schemes, and other innovative financing mechanisms. The MPSBB has tried to channel funds from the Green India Mission and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority for the preparation of PBRs and capacity building of the BMCs (as per the information provided by MPSBB).
Today Current Affairs
The BMCs also need to be supported with funds and technical assistance for taking up biodiversity-based livelihood interventions. In line with the rich biological wealth of the state, the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants conservation of local varieties of wheat, rice, maize, pulses, minor millets, fruits, vegetables, etc, conservation of native breeds of livestock and poultry, organic farming along with value addition could be the key strategies for ensuring ecological security and dealing with the effects of climate change as well as achieving livelihood security of its people, particularly, its large population of Scheduled Tribes with a high dependence on bio-resources.
A multipronged strategy and an enabling policy and legal environment would thus be criticial in creating empowered, self-sustaining, and self-reliant Atmanirbhar BMCs in the state, which would also be central to the realisation of the goals of the CBD, climate justice, and many of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In this article we mention all information about Biological Diversity Act, 2002 – impact and challenges Today Current Affairs.
Download Plutus ias daily current affairs 04 March 2022
No Comments